What is chitosan and is it healthy?

Both chitosan and chitin are waste products of the crab and shrimp industry and can be used to inhibit fat digestion and as a drug delivery transport agent. They also has been used as a cholesterol lowering substance.

Chitosan is marketed as a ‘fat blocker’.

It appears that it can impede fat absorption by ‘gelling’ with fat in the small intestine. Side effect of Chitosan is that since it is made from sea food, some people have allergic responses to it. Also, you need a high concentration of Chitosan for it to ‘gel’ with fat.

Does Chitosol work?

This supplement gets a big fat ZERO.

Let me explain.

Chitosol makes big promises of absorbing fat and not allowing it into the body. Several years ago, studies were done on Chitosan with a large animal population. Although these studies DID show that some fat seemed to be by chitosan, the tests were done on animals.

Several months later, the manufacturers had done no initial testing on humans. They, then, decided to open it to the masses. This isn’t what I would call a safe supplement. I know I personally wouldn’t want to put something into my body that hadn’t had substantial testing done on humans before I tried it out on myself.

To this date, there have only been small studies done on humans and have shown no effects of blocking fat.

However, although Chitosal is far from a good weight loss supplement, it does have some benefits. Studies have shown that chitosan significantly reduces cholesterol levels. One study showed that 3 to 6 grams of chitosan a day for 2 weeks lowered LDL(bad) cholesterol by 6% and increased HDL(good) cholesterol by a whopping 10%.

Claire Baxter has over 10 years experience writing product reviews for consumer products. She has written for The Sun, Forbes, and The NY Times. She is currently a staff writer for the The People, and enjoys reviewing different consumer products.